Fantasy Game: Infinite City

It was just before the New Year, and the city of City C was very busy. Although the weather was not very good and it was snowing heavily, there were still many people in the city. Of course, with more people, there were more cars, and with the snow on the road, Han Zu's SUV was stuck on a main road in the city.

"Looks like we'll have to wait for a while."

Traffic jams should be the norm during this period. When Han Zu opened the car window and smoked a cigar, he did not hear the noisy horns. With his powerful vision, he could see many people killing time in the car through the car window.

"Logically, there will be more and more players in the Infinite City, and these people should have some characteristics, but why do I feel that most of them are ordinary people?"

Pulling the handbrake, Han Zu puffed out smoke while explaining to Garcia what he saw.

"Although Infinite City was created by the Infinite Company of Longguo, the total number of players is counted based on global players. So although the number of players in Infinite City is large, if you average it out, it only accounts for about one-tenth of each city. Especially in a country with a large population like Longguo, most people you see on the streets are ordinary people."

"But Infinite City is very well-known. You said before that pedestrians on the street are not surprised by such exaggerated body shapes. According to this trend, shouldn't the number of Infinite City players be as large as possible for Infinite Company?"

“Haha..haha!”

Han Zu suddenly turned his head, looked at Garcia's face and laughed, which made Garcia very confused.

"Is there something on my face? Why are you suddenly laughing, and laughing so... obscenely?"

Reaching out of the car window to flick off the ash, Han Zu calmed his happy mood and continued talking with Garcia.

"I was thinking, you are a scientist, how come you can't even figure out something like this? But then I thought, you probably haven't left the island for a long time, maybe you've never left the island, so it's understandable."

"Ah, I didn't expect that. The things I've experienced during this period have been too complicated, so I didn't think about it that way."

Garcia came back to his senses from Han Zu's teasing and finally relaxed his tense spirit. The answer naturally appeared in Garcia's mind.

Compared with its popularity, the number of players of Infinite City is much smaller. In essence, it can be said that Infinite Company did it intentionally. Just like any other type of game, a game needs to be fun to ensure high player retention. The embodiment of player retention lies in the pleasure generated by the difference.

For example, the krypton gold system in various games, the reason why most players are willing to pay krypton gold is nothing more than that they can use the money to obtain strength or attributes that surpass other players, so as to gain a sense of superiority in the game process, or at least have a better-looking skin than others, so that they have the motivation to continue playing. This is the pleasure that difference can provide.

Of course, although this type of players account for 80% of the game's revenue, in general, their number will not exceed one-third of the total number of players. A company that truly understands operations will not leave only these players, and will definitely take care of ordinary players, because once these krypton gold players cannot get a different sense of superiority from the krypton gold behavior, they will quickly abandon the game. Therefore, smart game companies often allow most of the props and equipment of the same strength as krypton gold players to be obtained for free under certain conditions, which has spawned a group of so-called liver emperors, such as Han Zu.

Pay-to-win players are responsible for income, and hard-working players are responsible for online time. As long as the emotions of these two groups of players are stabilized and their gaming experience is guaranteed, then generally speaking, such a game will tend to survive for a long time.

As for the casual players who don't spend money or play the game, the game companies often give out some small benefits that look good but are actually useless. The purpose is not to retain these casual players, but to select new players who have the potential to become hardcore players and pay money players. Because their only role for the game companies is to promote the game, and they are not very stable.

"So if we use the Infinite City as an example, these ordinary people who are not players are passers-by. Their existence is actually to allow players like you to feel superior and continue to stay in the Infinite City?"

After talking with Han Zu for a while, Garcia gave his opinion. Han Zu nodded. Garcia's idea was similar to his, at least roughly the same. And Garcia soon thought of something and frowned.

"But in this case, these ordinary people will..."

"Even worse than a dog? I guess you don't want to believe it, but that's the truth."

Han Zu tapped the handbrake with his right hand, and pointed around with the burning cigarette butt in his left hand, holding a cigar.

"These ordinary people are essentially the 'test dummies' left by the Infinite Company for the players of Infinite City. I don't know if you have noticed, but I can tell you that since the advent of Infinite City, all kinds of bizarre criminal cases have emerged one after another. But you can go to any news website and see how many of them have caught the real culprits? Damn it, how many of them have been reported?"

"Han Zu, I remember you killed a wanted criminal before. Logically, the police should come to you for investigation, especially those from your Dragon Country, but..."

"Haha, not even a fart. Do you know what a wrung-out wet towel looks like? I turned the wanted criminal into that. Even if he is an unforgivable murderer, there should be some evidence, right? No, not a fart. If you say that there is no sight of a five-meter-tall guy in this city with more surveillance cameras than locusts, no one will believe it."

"It shows how huge Unlimited Company has become. Even..."

Garcia's worried look turned into a trace of sadness as he looked at the busy streets outside. The happy expressions of the pedestrians formed a sharp contrast with the reality that was happening. They might not even know that in the eyes of Infinite Company, they were already a bunch of test subjects.

Garcia turned to look at Han Zu, held his right hand, and wanted to say something, but couldn't find the right expression. Han Zu's expression, which was a little angry, returned to his usual, very normal, even indifferent look after taking a puff of smoke.

"These ordinary people can either become players of Infinite City or continue to let Infinite Company manipulate them."

"So the reason you did this is because you wanted to..."

"No, I am not."

Garcia thought that Han Zu might want to change this already distorted world by gaining the power to fight against Infinite Company, but Han Zu's straightforward denial made Garcia confused about Han Zu's thoughts.

"call..."

Throwing away the cigarette butt and closing the car window, Han Zu stroked his hair back, lowered the seat, and said lazily,

"This world is already like this, it's hopeless. Even if I have the power to destroy everything in the future, it will be useless. This world has already been subtly controlled by the Infinite Company. With their ambition, if someone can really fight against them one day, there is no doubt that they will drag everyone to destruction together. If that happens, even if I wipe out the Infinite Company in the future, is it necessary to leave only me in this world?"

“But Han Zu, since you can’t save these ordinary people anyway, why do you want to gain the power to fight against the Infinite Company?”

"I may not be able to control ordinary people, but not all of these players need to die. Garcia, you'd better be mentally prepared for what I'm going to say next."

Garcia looked at Han Zu and felt a little strange. This was the first time that Han Zu said something so seriously.

"Well, tell me."

"I won't lie. I actually like the pleasure that this difference from ordinary people brings me. To be honest, if Infinite Company's ambition is just this, I will support them, not to mention that Infinite Company has given me an unimaginable fortune. But I have said before that I don't think I am a good person, nor a bad person. I am just a very selfish person. So since Infinite Company has even extended its hand to me, I will naturally not wait to be killed."

"You mean the disclaimer of Infinity City, the terms in it? But I still don't know what Infinity Company wants to do with the players' bodies."

"What are you studying, Garcia?"

"Living research... ah, I understand."

According to what Han Zu said, Infinite Company is likely preparing, or has already used various means, to cause the death of players in order to obtain their corpses for research.

"I won't lie. What I wanted at the beginning was to at least get enough strength to avoid being killed by others. That's enough."

"I understand. It would be best if we can save others. If we can't, that's fine. It's just a by-product. After all, if a man doesn't work for himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth. Am I right?"

"Ah."

"But even so, you still want to cooperate with Infinity, or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say to do a deal. Why is that?"

"If you want to protect yourself to the greatest extent, at present, using the unlimited company is the only possibility of success. You should have noticed that the unlimited company is slowly eating away at this world. Do you think it is easier to act from within or as an outsider?"

"So you want to... own an unlimited company?!"

"I don't have such big ambitions, but if there is such an opportunity, I might give it a try. But my ultimate goal now is to keep myself out of trouble."

"When we first met, I thought you were a simple, pure person, Han Zu."

"what about now?"

"I don't know if it's complicated or not, but it's pure, pure... I don't know how to describe it."

"Drip!"

The traffic ahead finally began to move slowly. Han Zu restored his seat, lifted the handbrake, and slowly followed the traffic.

The traffic soon became smooth. Han Zu drove to the repair shop first and did a simple check on the car. There was nothing wrong with the car, just a little dirty. After washing the car and filling it with gas, Han Zu and Garcia drove to the shopping mall in the city center and bought some clothes, a lot of food and the like.

It took four or five hours, and the sky gradually darkened, the snow stopped, and the streets were still unusually busy. In order to avoid traffic jams, Han Zu decided to find a hot pot restaurant to eat something before the evening rush hour was over. Wearing newly bought clothes, Han Zu and Garcia parked the car outside a newly opened hot pot restaurant, went in to find a private room to sit down, and ordered a lot of food. While waiting for the food to be served, the two started talking again.

"So if Infinity Company really intends to recruit you, what are you going to do? Internal employees are much easier to monitor than ordinary players."

"That's easy. Hand me the ashtray. Well, I'll ask them why they sent me to that deserted world. They'll definitely blame everything on the board of directors. Don't forget that I'm a reckless man with a dull mind, so I'll quickly reach a consensus with the chairman. The rest will be easy."

"But Han Zu, how can you be sure that the people who come to visit the Infinite Company will definitely be from the chairman's faction?"

"It's very simple. At this moment, the board of directors will only come to me if they are all good-for-nothings. The former chairman is definitely still waiting and watching, so the only people who will come to me are those from the chairman's group who have contacted me before."

"Then, what are you going to do?"

"Of course I have to fulfill my duties as a reckless man, just complete the task, don't ask why, and don't care about the chairman's layout."

Garcia immediately understood what Han Zu meant. An obedient employee is a model employee, and the company will not interfere too much with an excellent model employee. This gives Han Zu time to develop his strength. Of course, it will take some time before the chairman and his faction can truly trust him, but what Han Zu lacks the least at the moment is time.

"To be the chairman of Unlimited Company, he must not be a fool. Are you so sure that he can't see your intentions?"

"Whether you can see it or not, it's actually useless, because I never wanted to destroy the unlimited company, but to rely on it to gain more benefits. And to a certain extent, my approach is in line with the position of the unlimited company. At least it is in line with the position of the chairman."

"Conspiracy."

"It's not even a strategy, at most it's just a little cleverness."

"No matter which faction, they would prefer a 'villain' who seeks something and has a purpose to a 'gentleman' who has no motives. Your move is really hard to solve, but you have to..."

"Moralally acceptable? That's exactly what I want! I have a very weak sense of morality!"

"But you have your own bottom line, don't you? At least you can tell me this. I don't believe that you will completely trust me just because of the so-called loyalty given by the system, but now you really talk to me about everything, and I think, based on your style and behavior logic, it is definitely not because we have slept together, so can you satisfy my curiosity? Why do you trust me so much?"

"Sir, your dish has arrived. This is our signature beef, made from..."

There was a knock on the door outside the private room. The waiter brought the ingredients for the hot pot and served them to Han Zu and Garcia. After delivering the dishes, the waiter tactfully left and closed the door of the private room.

While putting ingredients into the hot pot, Han Zu continued to answer the question that had been interrupted before.

"I've said before that I value actions more than words. No matter what your purpose is, your actions on that planet have earned my respect, so I trust you. As for what you will do in the future, I don't care. No matter what impact it will have on me in the future, it's my own choice, and I deserve it."

"It's that simple?"

"It's that simple. Let's eat first. I haven't had hot pot in a long time. You should also try our authentic Dragon Country cuisine. It must be much better than your food that uses that old bread slice as the base."

"You're really welcome... chew chew chew... hm!"

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

"No! Whoever wants to eat the old bread slices can eat it! This thing is really delicious. What is this?"

"Yellowthroat."

"Yellow... roar? Cow's throat?"

"No, it's the aorta, a large blood vessel of the cow. Chew, chew, chew... Have some dipping sauce, don't eat it plain, there are both oil sauce, sesame sauce and dry ingredients. Chew, chew, chew..."

"Then. Chew chew chew... Why is it called Yellow Throat? Chew chew chew..."

"After washing and cutting it into a plate, it looks like the blood vessels in the throat of an animal. You are doing research on living organisms, so you should know this, right? Chew, chew, chew..."

"I've... chewed chewed chewed... never eaten it before, but it does look very similar."

The matter about Infinite Company was temporarily suppressed by the delicious hot pot and left behind. The two of them were concentrating on tasting the food and chatting about it from time to time. Of course, most of the questions they raised were from Garcia.